Orange County SEO™ Blog

Search Engine Optimization

One of the most effective marketing techniques an online company can use is search engine optimization (SEO). This crucial component is key to attracting new customers and beating out your company’s competitors by appearing high in search engine results pages (SERPs). Perry Belcher has developed tools and techniques over more than a decade of successful digital marketing, both for his own business ventures and for his many clients.

Why Does Perry Belcher Suggest SEO?

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search engine optimization consists of a variety of features to make a website stand out from the pack. Some of these features include:

- Adding relevant keywords to web pages
- Writing engaging, in-depth content
- Including backlinks and links to other resources

Who Is Perry Belcher, anyway?

Perry Belcher is a venture capitalist and serial entrepreneur based in Austin, Texas. From sales, to writing, to consulting for other businesses, Belcher has a diverse range of experiences in the business world. These experiences have helped him develop a number of strategies that other businesses can use to grow their own online presence and increase sales. All of Perry’s methods are based on the foundations of successful business principles, and they really work.

Has Belcher done any speaking at conferences?

Mr. Belcher has studied effective SEO strategies for years, and is a highly-sought-after consultant for any company looking to increase traffic on their own sites. As the host of and regular presenter at the annual Traffic and Conversion Summit, most recently held in San Diego, He has been able to share his methods with thousands of attendees. These Summits bring together SEO professionals, digital marketing specialists, and business leaders. At the Summit, these professionals are able to share, learn about, and demonstrate a variety of tools and techniques that help boost revenue while increasing site traffic.

What about marketing courses?

This is a guy who is also involved with a consultancy venture called Digital Marketer (DM). Along with co-founder Ryan Deiss, and investor and marketer Roland Frasier, Digital Marketer offers courses and consultations on:

- Bringing more site traffic to the business
- Maximizing conversion rate optimization
- Boosting customer engagement

An offer or landing page’s conversion rate is very important in order to grow a business. This metric is the ratio of site visitors who become paying customers of a website. By attracting new visitors to the site using SEO and other techniques, providing important information, and guiding these visitors into making purchasing decisions, sales revenue goes up and the customer base increases. Perry’s methods have been proven time and again over the years; his millions of dollars in sales is testament to these methods’ effectiveness!

Does he know any good social media strategies?

Belcher knows that engaging site customers with methods other than the traditional web page is a great way to boost loyalty and attract new clients. Social media outlets comprise a great tool for this web promotion purpose, and Perry is adept at using social media to share his message. He has thousands of followers on his own Facebook page, Twitter feed, and Google+ page. He also uses a dedicated YouTube channel to share video content with viewers from around the globe.

His video-based reviews, lectures, and business lessons capture his dynamic personality and his expertise with online marketing strategies. By leveraging the broad appeal of social media, he demonstrates its power in captivating audiences and getting the message out to people all over the world. The global appeal of social media has great implications for the business world, too — giving businesses a huge reach without a lavish advertising budget.

One of his many strengths is his ability to break down complex business strategies into a way that anyone can understand. By doing this, he is empowering others to use the tools he has developed for their own purposes. The tools and techniques this marketer shares aren’t some magic formula; rather, they are a set of methods that are proven to work for any size business, large or small.

Has Mr. Belcher written any books?

Yes. He has authored a range of books on a variety of business topics. His “how to” business manuals are popular with readers, and serve as yet another way he can share his expertise with others. Some of his more popular titles include:

Considering he writes extensively on SEO techniques on his blog, too, his passion for sharing his methods comes through in his writing. He’s written about using search engine tools to boost business, analyzing strategies to see what’s working, and leveraging Facebook data to maximize ad impact. These blog articles feature timely information and details on implementing the techniques for any business.

Has he helped other writers get published?

If that’s not all, he has also found the time to help other writers get published, too. By using the most powerful bookseller on the planet, Amazon Kindle, Perry developed the Number One Book System formula he co-founded with business partner Ryan Deiss. This venture offers courses to writers on how to:

- Develop a book for Amazon
- Promote the book using Amazon’s own tools
- Promote the book via launch
- Maintain active sales of the book

He realized early on that the best way for writers to find an outlet for their creative works was by using the accessible Amazon Kindle platform. With the system he teaches, thousands of people have been able to take advantage of this bookselling powerhouse.

Having solid SEO is only part of the formula for business success, and he is happy to share the full range of tools and techniques he has developed. Belcher’s engaging personality, willingness to share his experiences, and infectious enthusiasm make him a very popular speaker and consultant for businesses the world over. By offering his tools, techniques, and experiences through social media outlets, video, and blog content, this enables people all over the globe to try out his successful digital marketing and web promotion techniques in a way that really boosts business.

FEATURE: Quality Content Delivers Stellar Performance

SquareUp: Orange County SEO Company

Quality content is the foundation of all other Internet marketing. It is a fundamental component of advertising, public relations, branding, social media and website content. If it is done right, it can cause engagement at a high level. It can also be the difference between conversion and bounce.

For Internet marketers, quality content is the first priority. A recent poll shows that most internet marketing teams are well aware of this fact; 10 percent of all teams dedicate at least one full-time member of staff to quality content creation. For marketers, quality content is the top priority.

What Is Quality Content?

Quality content focuses on the user, not the webmaster or the writer. Quality content should have the following characteristics:

Well-written—free of errors in spelling, grammar and formatting.
Direct—captures the user’s attention within 10 seconds.
Clear—not overly wordy or written at a high reading level.
Focused—shows the user the benefit of reading and learning more about a product or service.

What Counts as Content?

Content is anything you release on the web. It includes:

Web Pages—should be at least 250 words and explain its purpose clearly with the brand voice.
Press Releases—300 to 400 words and optimized for keywords.
Tweets—140 characters of straightforward message, links, hashtags and pictures.
Social media—conversational tone and creative posts that drive user engagement.
Photos and videos—today’s customers like to watch, so YouTube videos with searchable text, photos with embedded links and other visual materials make great content.

Where Should You Start?

Blogging gives website owners the opportunity to write many pages of content. A blog provides opportunities to target keywords, especially those of the long-tail variety. Users get a chance to read useful information and informative articles. Blogging is a win-win situation for everyone.

Those who blog should keep the following tips in mind:

Keep brand voice in mind. Although you can be more opinionated or creative in a blog, do not forget you represent your brand.
Include a call to action. Readers love to post on blogs with experiences, questions or suggestions. Give them the opportunity to participate to build user loyalty.
Use blogging strategy. Blogging is not just randomly posting stories. You should use headers, keywords and other strategies to extend your marketing reach.
Make it lengthy. Many marketers forget that blogging is not Twitter. Use at least 400 words for each blog to gain recognition with the search engines.
Include pictures. Pictures drive higher user engagement with a blog.
Use social media to promote blogs. Do not forget to promote blog posts with social media and cross-promote it within other platforms.

The best advertising strategy in the world will not save poor content. However, advertising is critical to promote good content. No matter how well-written your content is, it does not matter if no one ever sees it! Be sure to promote your content in all possible ways including social media platforms, keyword campaigns and other forms of advertising.

Ready, Aim, Fire… Then Retarget #12D #Liveblog

Every PPC marketer wants to be known as a great retargeter, and unfortunately many of them are claiming expertise in the field simply by understanding some very basic concepts.

Retargeting, at its heart, is not a difficult thing to understand. It is the recapture of a customer who has left your site without converting and is snagged back in by an ad on another site.

However, retargeting means more than simply funneling people back to your website. It also means strategic marketing based on a careful analysis of the feedback available to you.

Product retargeting should follow the buyer rather than forcing the buyer to follow the ad. If it is done right, retargeting gently pushes users into the right stage of the sales funnel so discreetly that they do not realize they are being pushed.

One of the easiest ways to ensure that you are taking advantage of retargeting opportunities is to take inventory of your existing ads and amplify them. Use impression caps to avoid creepiness.

Another important point is to monitor where your retarget ads send users. The ideal situation is to send users to exactly where they want to go, never to a home page or unrelated content page. Send them directly to the category page or product page and streamline the buying process. Add a call to action to drive purchases.

5 Keys to Remarketing

Build your audience first. To successfully retarget, you must first create segments to classify your target market. You should have a solid number of unique visitors before you attempt remarketing; most experts recommend at least 100,000 per month.
Define your strategy. Identify consumer behaviors and use this information to build your pool of cookies. Identify segments and go after email signups, product reviews, and shopping for accessories in addition to conversions.
Deliver relevant messages. You should segment your banners and create dynamic interactions based on user profiles. Relevance can life your sales by as much as 28 percent.
Prevent fatigue. There is a level at which ROI levels off and begins to decline. Experiment to find the optimum frequency for your customers.
Measure benefits. You can measure the incremental lift on your conversion rate and site traffic. This helps you understand how retargeting is affecting your bottom line.

Google now offers a new product for remarketing known as RLSA or remarketing lists for search audiences. Google must turn this beta program on for you but it works from your regular remarketing pixel and applies audiences at the ad group level. Negative audiences can also be applied.

Google’s new tool allows you to understand your converters, abandoners and others more completely. You can segment the new versus the existing converters and introduce new products to re-engage those who have not converted.

New tools also allow you to introduce new products, promotions, and special messages with widely-used keywords. All the new Google tools are designed to give SEO professionals the power to drive conversions.

Can an Upgraded Account Help Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile?

Have you thought about trying LinkedIn’s free 30-day premium account? If you decide to upgrade, you can gain several important benefits and features. Upgraded accounts can be a great asset to job seekers who can use the upgraded accounts to be “featured applicants” and for recruiters who can use the system contact those outside their own network groups.

Upgraded accounts also offer several features designed to give you more insight into your own engagement and the engagement of others with you.

Benefits of Upgrading

When you upgrade to a premium LinkedIn account, you get the opportunity to display your gold “In” badge and the “OpenLink” badge, notifying others that you are a premium member.

You also get expanded search results, permission to contact users outside your network and tools that allow you to bookmark and annotate others’ profiles. An upgraded account also gives you the option to join the OpenLink network that allows others to message you at no cost, even if they are not in your group.

Another great tool is the “Profile Stats Pro” that allows you to see a list of who has viewed your profile in a certain period of time. You can also show views of your profile by industry or by location, and monitor the keyword searches that have featured your profile. You can see views by any of these categories easily and even find other helpful viewer information.

The Profile Stats Pro tool provides a better understanding of who is searching for you and how they are searching. You may be able to tailor information in your profile to make you stand out in these types of searches.

For example, if you live in Atlanta and you see that people in that area are looking for technical writers, it might pay to spend some time brushing up your profile from a technical writing standpoint. This might include optimizing your profile for keywords related to technical writing as well as keywords for cities around the Atlanta area where large technical writing firms are established. It might also mean that you want to request endorsements from those who have worked with you as a technical writer in the past. LinkedIn suggests common endorsement types; in the technical writer example, it might ask your colleagues to endorse you for technical writing as well as editing, composing, proofreading and other similar skills.

Cost of Upgrading

While LinkedIn offers a free 30-day trial of the upgraded account, it will cost you after the trial period. The total cost depends on what type of premium account you choose and the features it contains.

There’s No Harm in Trying It

As long as you cancel before your 30 days are up, there is no cost to try the LinkedIn profile upgrade. Try it out and see if the features work for you as you attempt to push yourself and your brand out to others who are looking for people like you.

Business Blogging: How to Hit the Sweet Spot of Social Engagement and Revenue Driver

You’ve heard your SEO or marketing consultant recommend a blog, and you get it. After all, a blog allows you to do lots of great things for your business:

Put a face on your company.
Do reputation management, to deal with negative feedback.
Strengthen the focus of your site with new ideas and content.
Publish funny, entertaining or otherwise “viral” content that will get you attention online.

You know that blogging for your customers will build trust in your brand and improve users’ experience with you, making them more likely to associate themselves with you in the future. But you still have questions. Like, what can I expect the blog to contribute to sales? And if not directly connected to sales, how will I measure the blog’s success?

Blog KPIs

First understand that blogging is an awareness channel, positioned at the top of the conversion funnel. Conversions assigned to the blog should be things that create another connection between you and the audience, like a newsletter sign-up or Facebook like. The goal of the blog is to have people actively choose to connect with you elsewhere, a position that will put you at the customer’s top of mind when a need for your product or service surfaces.

A 2011 State of the Blogosphere report from Technorati Media surveyed bloggers, and the results of the question, “How do you measure the success of your blog?” saw a variety of responses:

In 2011, personal satisfaction, unique visitors and number of comments were reported as the top 3 ways bloggers measured the success of their blogs.

Along with the metrics listed above, today it’s generally recommended that businesses engaged in social media track the search volume of branded terms — a good indicator of the effectiveness of social media efforts and the share of market voice.

Conversion Tracking on Your Blog with Google Analytics

Now that you know a few things to measure your blog with, here are some basic steps for putting in place tracking with Google Analytics.

Before you get into GA to set your goals, outline what your blog success metrics will be. Everything from clicking through to social accounts like Facebook, Twitter and Google+, to form completions to signing up for your email list or newsletter, time spent on site and pages per visit might align with your business goals.

With that straight, use Google Analytics set up tracking for those conversions with a variety of goal types:

URL destination: When a user hits a page that signals a conversion, like a thank you or confirmation screen, that’s a goal.
Visit duration: Time spent on a page is a type of goal that aligns well with the engagement role of a blog.
Pages per visit: Here again, your blog will be doing its job if it causes visitors to hit multiple pages on your site.
Event: Actions like downloads, video views, specific links and buttons that get clicked — these may line up with conversion goals you have for your blog.

With an understanding of what your blog is doing for you and GA set up to measure and track those actions, you’ll know why you’re blogging and how the investment is contributing to your business.